page_title: Johannes Steinhoff
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: Johannes Steinhoff / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: F-104 Starfighter of Bundeswehr, Le Bourget
context_page_description: Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff was a Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II, German general, and NATO official. He was one of very few Luftwaffe pilots who survived to fly operationally through the whole of the war period 1939–45. He was also one of the highest-scoring pilots with 176 victories, and one of the first to fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter in combat as a member of the Jagdverband 44 squadron led by Adolf Galland. Steinhoff was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, and later received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and several foreign awards including the American Legion of Merit and the French Legion of Honour. He played a role in the so-called Fighter Pilots Conspiracy when several senior air force officers confronted Hermann Göring late in the war.
  As a member of Jagdverband-44 Steinhoff was permanently disfigured after receiving major burns across most of his body after crashing his Me-262 after a failed takeoff.
context_section_description: Steinhoff recognised the situation of postwar Germany, and was invited by West Germany's new interim government to rebuild the Luftwaffe within NATO, eventually rising to the rank of full general. Steinhoff served as Chief of Staff and acting Commander Allied Air Forces Central Europe (1965–1966), Inspector of the Air Force (1966–1970) and later as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (1971–1974).
  After retiring from his NATO command in 1974, Steinhoff became a widely read author of books on German military aviation during the war and the experiences of the German people at that time. He wrote The Final Hours, which detailed a late-war plot against Hermann Göring, and also published a vivid account of his time in Italy: Messerschmitts over Sicily: Diary of a Luftwaffe Fighter Commander. Steinhoff also became a watercolorist, and chairman of Germany's Dornier Aviation.
  Steinhoff received numerous honours for his work on the structure of the post war German Air Force and the integration of the German Federal Armed Forces into NATO, including: The Order of Merit with Star, the American Legion of Merit and the French Légion d'honneur.
  One of Steinhoff's contributions was dealing with the high accident rate the air force was having with its F-104 Starfighters.  Upon researching the issue, Steinhoff, who had always been a good teacher, deduced that the problem was not the aircraft but poor training for pilots on that particular aircraft.  He addressed the problem with an intensive training regime and the accident rate dropped dramatically.
caption: A former Luftwaffe F-104 Starfighter at Le Bourget.
exif: {}